Personal hygiene is an important area of everyone’s lives, but sometimes it is overlooked. There are several reasons why it is so important, and a few things you can do to improve your own personal hygiene and make your life better in the process.

Health

The importance of personal hygiene cannot be underestimated. Your good health depends on it. If you have a high standard of hygiene, you are less likely to catch the various illnesses and infections that come along. As a bonus, if you have an infection, good hygiene can ensure a faster recovery for you as well as preventing it from spreading to other people.

Good hygiene is important for your mental health, too! If you are clean, groomed and neat, you are likely to feel much more confident. This boost in confidence will increase your positive self-image. Being perceived as neat and orderly sends out the message that you care about your appearance, which may lead to more opportunities both in and out of the workplace.

Social Life

A high standard of hygiene is also important for your social life. People who do not shower, wash their hair or brush their teeth may be perceived by their peers and associates as lazy. It is also likely that they will not be taken as seriously as someone who puts the time into cultivating a positive appearance.

Furthermore, a neat and well-groomed appearance can open up many doors. Arriving to a meeting dressed nicely and well-groomed makes a wonderful first impression. Like it or not, most people’s first impression of a person is how they look. Employers and potential friends tend not to offer the same opportunities to those with poor hygiene.

Tips for Improving your Hygiene

So what can you do to improve your standard of hygiene? Here are some tips that can help:

Shower daily. Showering is an important part of a good hygiene routine. Daily showers keep your skin clean as well as giving you a chance to check your body for everything from ingrown hairs to athlete’s foot and anything else that could be going wrong.

Brush your teeth. Brushing your teeth twice a day and flossing regularly prevents the build-up of plaque which can cause tooth decay, gum disease and tooth loss. In addition, using an antibacterial mouthwash will also help prevent bad breath. It can also get into those hard-to-reach areas that brushing and flossing alone may miss.

Wash your hands. Always wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water before leaving the bathroom and before and after handling food. This will lessen the likelihood of spreading germs. It is also important to wash your hands if you are going to be or have been in contact with someone who is ill.

When you are out and cannot wash your hands, carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer with you. Hand sanitizer depending on the brand can kill 99.9% of germs on skin. Hand sanitizer is not a substitute for good handwashing, but it is the next best thing and can stop many infections from occurring.

These tips for positive hygiene do not take very long to implement, but a small investment in time now will save you from a lot of health and social problems in the future and open doors for you!

Matching family t-shirts for vacations are not just for TV show families like The Simpsons or The Brady Bunch. More and more families and groups are opting to wear matching shirts when travelling for the following reasons:

Safety

When traveling in busy cities or theme parks, kids and adults in the group are more likely to stay within the group and not get lost. Wearing matching t-shirts enhances the visibility of your family making it easier for the children to spot you, and for you to keep an eye on them. It’s also easier when trying to do a head count as you can easily spot the members of your travel group. In the event that someone does get lost, it’s also great to be able to describe what the family member is wearing – if you have matching t-shirts, you can simply show tour guides or resort staff your own t-shirt so they know what to look out for. If you are wearing matching t-shirts for safety reasons, you might want to consider ordering your t-shirts in a bright or fluorescent color, so that each member of the travel party stands out as much as possible.

Bonding

Whether you are travelling as a family, as part of a sports team, sorority or other group, wearing matching shirts will help each person to bond as a group and will maximise the fun! If you are travelling as part of a sports team or group, you may want to consider having your team name printed on the back of each shirt, along with individual names or numbers to represent each member of the group.

Waiting

Matching shirts can be a really fun way of preparing for your trip. Those who have planned fun family vacations in the past will know how difficult it is to get through that period in-between booking and planning for your vacation, and actually leaving for it. Matching t-shirts are a fantastic way to enhance that limbo period and get everyone excited about the trip while the wait is on! Creating your matching t-shirts will also help to pass the time while you wait for your vacation, as you shop for your shirts, or work on the design for them.

Memories

Matching shirts are a fantastic way to remember your vacation for years to come, and make a sentimental, memorable keepsake that you can keep and wear over and over again. If the vacation is in celebration of an event such as an anniversary or family reunion, then putting the name of the event and the date on the shirt will also help to commemorate the event, and can then be worn on following anniversaries of the date as a way of honor the occasion and remembering the fun of the past trip.

Photos

Lastly, one of the best reasons for wearing matching shirts is for photographic purposes. In the digital age, most people make photos a priority on vacation, ensuring that they snap lots of great pictures to share with their social networks and to help them remember the trip in years to come. Matching t-shirts are a terrific way to ensure that everyone on the trip is color co-ordinated, and that nobody’s clothing will clash in any pictures. Matching t-shirts are also a great way to clearly see who is on the trip in a printed photo, especially when photos are being taken in crowded places.

Awareness t-shirts are a fantastic way to show your support for important causes and campaigns that raise awareness. WorkPlacePro® is your source for all your awareness t-shirts and other apparel items which can be customized to fit your group or workplace, and with every order of 12 or more tees, personalization is free!

However, here at WorkPlacePro®, we are more than just an apparel company: we aim to not only raise awareness of these issues, but to actively support them. That’s why we have introduced the new donation system.

When you purchase ANY of our products, you have the option of rounding up your purchase to donate to one of three select charities. By rounding your purchase to the nearest dollar, you can donate the difference to the charity of your choice! This checkout process allows you to donate your spare change, to support organizations which are making a difference in your community, and in your country.

The following, are the three charities that we support:

National Autism Association®

The National Autism Association provides education and resources to keep children and adults with Autism safe from things such as bullying and abuse in the public and private sphere. The association is a parent-run not-for-profit organization which was founded in 2003 and aims to be the leading voice on many issues, including those related to autism safety, autism abuse and crisis prevention.

With over 1.6 million online members, the National Autism Association responds to the most urgent needs of the autism community, providing assistance and hope to those with autism, and their families.

National Breast Cancer Foundation Inc.®

Founded in 1991 by a breast cancer survivor, the National Breast Cancer Foundation’s mission is to provide education about breast health, breast cancer and the importance of early detection, as well as providing support services to those affected by breast cancer.

1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, making it one of the leading health crises in the United States, and the Western world. While there is no known cure for breast cancer, early diagnoses is critical, which is why the National Breast Cancer Foundation provides free screening in all 50 states, and free programs for women facing breast cancer.

American Cancer Society®

This nationwide, community –based health organization aims to enhance wellness, and help people to maintain that wellness while also striving to find cures and treatments that will save lives.

The American Cancer Society, along with millions of supporters, is committed to ridding the world, and individual lives, of cancer and has offices all over the United States to ensure that its presence is known and available in every community. The organization is dedicated to research, education, advocacy and service to all those who are affected by cancer.

These three organizations all strive to make this world a better place through education and support for those who need it. By choosing to round your purchase at checkout, you will donate to one of these three worthy charities.

Christmas is coming. This is an undeniable fact, and just like every year before, it’s going to come whether you are ready for it or not. This year, why not try being prepared for the holiday season? This is a time of year which overwhelms even the steadiest of people, and it’s no wonder that depression and anxiety rates rise from the time between Halloween and the New Year. But – there is great news! It doesn’t have to be this way.

Follow these simple tips and you are sure to have a stress-free holiday that you can enjoy.

Start Early

There are tons of Christmas activities you can take care of early in the season. For example, pick up a box of cheap, pre-season holiday cards (even better if you can snag them in the summer!) and start writing them early. You don’t have to mail them so soon, but keep them tucked away where they won’t get lost or destroyed in any way, and you’ll have them ready to drop off at the post office on a moment’s notice when the time comes.

You can also get your holiday shopping done early. Make a list of everyone you need to buy for, and get started in October if you can! The sooner you get your shopping taken care of, the easier your holiday season burden will immediately become – you won’t have to rush out to the stores during the holiday shopping madness, and you will have more time to devote to other projects as well. It is also wise to take advantage of online shopping opportunities. You can ease the shopping burden even more by making many of your purchases online!

Make a Plan

No task seems quite as overwhelming when you have a solid plan for taking care of it. Before Thanksgiving, give yourself an hour or two to sit down and make a plan for how to handle your holiday season. Map out the dates and times when you are going to cook major dishes such as turkey or ham, when you want to prepare Christmas goodies like fudge or party mix, what day is best for wrapping presents, and more. Schedule holiday parties or get-togethers you have committed to, and most importantly, write in time for yourself! You do not need to spend every waking moment working on Christmas activities. Whenever possible, give yourself time to soak in a bubble bath, enjoy a quiet cup of tea, read a book, or watch your favorite show.

It’s also important to make lists that can help you with each individual step of your holiday planning as well. For example, you might say, “On December 5th, wrap presents.” But when December 5th rolls around, what if you’ve forgotten what you bought for everyone? Make a list to help you on gift-wrapping day by noting who gets which gifts, and which paper to use (This might not matter, but some people are particular about not using children’s wrapping paper on gifts for their grandmother). Alternatively, you may be devoting December 10th to cooking, but what will you cook on that date? Make a list of what you plan to prepare on cooking days, and then make an ingredient shopping list too! Work backwards to ensure that you achieve all of your steps successfully.

Don’t Be Afraid to Back Out

Last but certainly not least, don’t be afraid to back out of something or to tell someone no. Of course, you cannot get out of everything at the holidays, but you are bound to enjoy attending a few parties more, than you will enjoy spreading yourself thin over dozens of get-togethers. Come up with a solid excuse ahead of time, so you won’t feel too nervous getting out of an event you don’t want to deal with. And if you are at a party and feel like you need to leave – whether it is to get some time to yourself or to get back to work on something else – there is no harm in pretending to get an important phone call!

In a similar vein, it is important to set a specific date on which your Christmas work and preparations are going to stop. You might say that on the 20th, you are finished with going to parties, cooking food, wrapping gifts, and shopping. If you choose a date like this, stick to it! Don’t arrive on the end date and suddenly say you have a few more things to bake, for example. You need to let yourself know that there will be an end to all the madness, and that you are going to have time to relax and enjoy the rest of the holiday season when it is all said and done.

Take a deep breath. Are you ready? Christmas is on its way, and with these tips, you can be easily prepared for whatever the holiday season brings. Most importantly, try to have fun and enjoy your time. Happy holidays!

It can be very difficult to raise money through donations during a time of the year when everyone seems to be strapped for cash, but never fear! Remember these few tips, and you will have no trouble with your next holiday season fundraising project.

Enlist Friends and Family

Sure, they may not be paid to do this, but your friends and family can always be a valuable asset in spreading the word about your project or organization. When you feel like you are not able to reach enough people on your own, ask those who are closest to you if they wouldn’t mind telling others about what it is you do, and why donations are so necessary at this time of the year. Chances are, someone you know will know someone who can pitch in. Never underestimate the power of word of mouth! Especially now in our technologically advanced times, it is even easier for you to reach friends through social media who can then reach their friends—and so on. Networking has never been so stress-free!

Stay on Task Everywhere

Going grocery shopping? Consider taking along some pamphlets to hand out while you’re standing in the long checkout lines that seem to pop up during the holiday season. Eating lunch out somewhere? Leave a card or a small leaflet along with your tip for the wait staff or owners to peruse. Sending holiday cards to your friends and family? Don’t forget to mention how great things have gone with your organization this year. No matter where you go, you can find an opportunity for spreading the goal of your non-profit organization or project, and you may potentially make donating contacts just about anywhere! Remember to follow rules and laws when you do this, however, as asking for donations may be considered soliciting depending on the way you approach the task.

Bank on Charitable Sentiments

During the holidays, people may have tighter budgets than they usually do, but they also tend to feel more generous. There is nothing wrong with cashing in on the sentimentality of good people at the holidays. Share some stories from your clients or those you have helped (and remember to get permission to use names or likenesses!), and you are sure to see an increase in donations. Tugging on the heartstrings is always a good way to gather new donations for your cause. You can also reconnect at this time of year with those who have donated in the past, in the hopes that the spirit of the season might inspire them to give even more this time around!

Although it may seem like a daunting task to convince people to donate to your cause during the tumultuous holiday season, following these few tips will help you stay on top of your donation quotas with ease. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, talk with strangers you meet during your day, and play to the sentimentalities of new and recurring donors as well. Good luck with your fundraising endeavors, and happy holidays!

Thanksgiving is perhaps the most popular food-related holiday in the United States. Families throughout the country sit down on the last Thursday in November every year to enjoy a delicious feast of tasty food, including turkey, pumpkin pie and everything in between. And one of the greatest parts of Thanksgiving is sometimes even more celebrated than the initial meal itself – the surplus of leftovers! Unfortunately, Thanksgiving foods tend to be stored haphazardly after the meal is done, and there is an unpleasant trend of post-Thanksgiving leftover consumers who end up sick from food poisoning when the holiday is over. Prepare your food safely and store it correctly to ensure that your holiday is free from any unwanted illnesses.

Preparing Food

Safe handling and preparation of the meal is the first step toward a healthy Thanksgiving. Many home cooks are put off by the idea of cooking a whole Thanksgiving dinner at home, but even the most nervous of these amateur chefs eventually caves in. Whether this is your first time preparing Thanksgiving food or you have done it for years already, it is important to take note of several safety tips.

Never purchase a fresh turkey more than 48 hours before the meal. You can buy a frozen turkey a couple of weeks ahead of time and keep it in your freezer.

The best way to thaw your turkey is by moving it from the freezer to the refrigerator several days in advance. This provides a slow thawing method that won’t allow bacteria to grow on the meat. The second-best option is to place the whole frozen turkey (still packaged) in the sink and run cold water over it until it has thawed.

Wash your hands before touching the raw turkey and immediately after touching it, before you come into contact with any other items or surfaces. Use hot water, antibacterial soap, and wash for at least 20 seconds.

Use a food thermometer inserted at the thickest part of the turkey breast, and again at the inner part of the turkey thigh, to be sure the meat is fully cooked to 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

Many cooks like to stuff their raw turkeys and cook everything at once. This can be done safely, but it does come with more risks than separate cooking. Always measure the turkey for doneness (not the stuffing), and prepare the stuffing in a separate bowl away from the raw turkey meat before filling the cavity of the bird.

Do not rely on the included pop-up turkey timers that come with many packaged birds.

Storing Food

After the feast has been devoured, store the leftovers safely to prevent any unnecessary contaminants. Storing your leftover turkey meat, in particular, is just as important as cooking it properly. It may be tempting to let the leftovers sit on the table while everyone gathers to watch football or partake in some other family activity afterward, but don’t neglect your leftover storage! The turkey should always be handled first, but be sure to take care of your side dishes as well.

Do not let the turkey sit for too long after the meal at room temperature. This will cause bacteria growth.

The easiest way to store the leftover turkey is to shred the meat from the bones and keep it in shallow glass storage containers in the refrigerator.

Do not refrigerate leftover turkey for longer than four days. If you want to keep the meat for longer than this, freeze it.

To freeze leftover turkey, place the cooled, cooked turkey meat into gallon freezer bags and seal tightly. Store in the freezer for up to 2 months.

Do not store stuffing inside the turkey. Always remove it and keep it a complete separate container.

Refrigerate pumpkin pie after it has been sliced to help preserve freshness. Pies only have a refrigerator life of a couple of days.

If you have kept any leftover gravy, always be sure to boil it before serving it again. This will help improve its safety as well as its taste!

By following these simple tips and directions, you will be well on your way to providing a safe and healthy holiday for yourself and your entire family. Happy Thanksgiving!

There are many different ways that people learn, and in any classroom, you are bound to encounter several students from each learning category. While one method of teaching may work very well for a certain type of learner, another type may not respond at all to what you try. As a new teacher, it is very important to learn how to identify the different types of learners in your classroom, and then to make sure that each one of your lessons takes into account every style of learning that your students may need. To become an effective teacher, you must anticipate the needs of your students and tailor your lesson plans to best benefit each type of learning your classroom.

Auditory Learners

In the past, most styles of education relied on the belief that all students were auditory learners. This has, of course, since been proven incorrect, so you should never rely solely on auditory teaching methods to reach your class.

Auditory learners focus best on verbal, spoken language, but may struggle with the written word and with hands-on projects. While listening to information over and over again can help an auditory learner remember much more easily, the same student may get nothing out of reading a chapter silently out of a book. These students are easy to identify, even as a new teacher, because they tend to be the most outgoing students in the classroom. They may be social butterflies who enjoy talking and hearing themselves talk, and they tend to be class clowns who always seem to be at the center of attention.

Visual Learners

Visual learning focuses on the interpretation and absorption of taught information by seeing and processing it. Visual learners are slightly less common than auditory learners, but still may comprise the majority of your classroom.

A student who learns best visually does well at quiet reading time, and can learn material from watching movies as well. The same student may struggle with directions that are given verbally, and may not do very well when trying to construct something by hand. Visual learners can be identified by their strong attention to detail and need to be organized, even at a young age. These students are good at one-on-one conversation, but may not be part of a larger group, and may be much quieter than their auditory counterparts. Noise often distracts a visual learner, and these students may need you to physically perform a task before they can repeat it.

Kinesthetic Learners

Although kinesthetic learners are not quite as common as auditory and visual learners are, they are still common enough that you are sure to encounter a handful even in your first class. They may be more challenging to teach, but if you are prepared you should not have any trouble.

Kinesthetic learners are best suited to learning by doing. These students retain information when they are able to manipulate objects or understand information by interacting with parts of it. They may not do well when given verbal direction or shown how to do something, but instead want to dive in and try it on their own. You can identify a kinesthetic learner in your classroom by pinpointing the students who cannot seem to sit still while you are teaching them. Gain their attention by providing lots of hands-on class experiences.

Identifying and teaching different learning types in your classroom does not have to be a difficult achievement. Simply keep these tips and strategies in mind, and you will be well on your way to successful teaching in no time.

A child’s education is nothing without a quality teacher to provide it. But just what makes a good teacher? What are the characteristics that all teachers should strive toward in order to have the biggest influence on their students? Read on to learn all about the ways in which a teacher can go from being simply a teacher to becoming a good, effective teacher.

Use Understandable Objectives and Goals

Every teacher needs a lesson plan, but if that plan is complicated, confusing, or does not seem to have an endgame in mind, it is useless. Teachers often fall into the trap of teaching scattered subjects from all over the place, when in reality, a good teacher is one who can focus his or her time and energy and cover every subject in a sequential order. In the same way, a teacher must provide consistent feedback through grades and notes. The grading policy should not change in the middle of the year.

Engage While Teaching

Many teachers feel that all they have to do is stand in front of a class, give a lecture, ask a few questions, and move on. This is one way to dispense information, but it is not a viable method of teaching successfully. Students get bored with this type of instruction very quickly, and they do not retain much of the information provided if they are not engaged. Ask students to look at facts that have presented and come up with their own conclusions. Keep questions open-ended whenever possible, and be sure to call on students equally without returning to one or two favorites.

Know What You Teach

A great teacher must be an expert in his or her field of education. If you teach science but cannot explain the difference between a proton and a neutron without looking it up, your students are going to lose faith in you quickly, and you will not be able to reach them. To be a good teacher, you must be able to answer basic questions about your subject at the drop of a hat, and you should be prepared for students who want to study the topic more in-depth. If you are good at what you teach, and you teach what you know, you are bound to make a connection with a few students who want to go on to focus on your field as well.

Talk To Parents

It may be daunting to try to communicate with parents, but this is a very important part of any good teacher’s job. Schools usually require parent-teacher conferences at least twice per semester, but it can be beneficial to you and your students as well if you send home letters explaining how the student is doing throughout the year, or even reach out with a phone call if your school allows it. If you are worried about how a student is doing, talk to the parents. They will be pleased, and you will be better equipped to help that student succeed.

It does not take much to be a good teacher, and anyone can do it, but you may need to re-evaluate your methods in order to reach that goal. Do not be afraid to try new things, to talk to parents and engage students, and to be sure you are well equipped to teach your subject matter. If you follow these few tips, you will be well on your way to being an excellent teacher in no time.

Traditional education is, at its core, the most commonly practised form of education throughout much of the world. This term refers to a back-to-basics way of teaching, where a single instructor (or perhaps an instructor with an aide, for larger classes) speaks to a group of students who are seated at desks or tables. This teacher-driven type of education has been called into question in recent years, with some groups hoping to reform the educational system and provide students with a task-oriented learning environment that is not so rigidly structured. This means that teachers must rethink their strategies and try to determine where they and their methods fall in the world of new education reform.

“Old School” Educational Methods

For a long time, education has been centered around traditional “old school” methods of providing students with information. To this day, several of these methods are still used in the classroom, but they are becoming much less commonplace. For example, English and vocabulary lessons are no longer based on the study of root words and phonics, as they once were. Students of the past learned new vocabulary words by identifying their roots and thinking about where they could have come from. The word “questionable,” for example, has a root word of “question,” which can lead a student to make a good guess as to what the word means.

Math, too, was once taught much differently than it is today. Students were required to memorize their times tables when they learned multiplication, and classrooms were filled with math pupils who recited, in unison, simple multiplication based on number families. Some schools even went so far as to have students write their times tables by hand over and over again to ingrain the information into their minds.

Even handwriting has fallen to the wayside and is no longer explored in the classroom the way it used to be. Students are no longer taught cursive writing at all, save for in certain private schools, and penmanship is not a subject that is graded by teachers any longer. Students are allowed to write in whatever hand they develop, so long as it is somewhat legible by the teacher.

New Methods of Teaching

There are many ways in which teachers are moving from these traditional, teacher-centered ways of presenting students with information and into a more hands-on, student-driven educational environment. Perhaps the largest of these new methods is student engagement. This refers to a teacher giving students basic information and then engaging them in a conversation about the subject matter. Students learn analytical skills by thinking about the facts they have been given and working toward understanding why things happen the way they do, and how the information pertains to them and their personal lives.

Engagement also refers to giving students hands-on experience in any given subject. Field trips are much more common in an engagement-driven classroom, and students visit locations where they can watch real world applications of the subjects they learn in school. Even a local business office can be a great field trip location for students who want to see how math, communication, or other subjects can affect their adult lives.

Some teachers are beginning to adopt a concept called spaced learning for information presentation in the classroom. This works with the short attention spans of today’s students by combining a small amount of rote memorization with plenty of fun activities to keep the brain moving. In a spaced learning classroom, a teacher sets aside about an hour to an hour and a half of class time to focus on a subject. The information is taught to the students first for about fifteen minutes, in a condensed format. Students then break for a physical activity that lasts ten minutes, before returning to hear the same information repeated in the same order for another fifteen minutes. The ten-minute physical activity break is repeated, and finally, the fifteen minutes of information is repeated once more to solidify the learning experience.

Spaced learning may seem a little strange at first, but it is a great way to keep students interested in the topic at hand by providing them frequent mental breaks. The repetition of the information helps keep the subject fresh in their minds, and the physical activity keeps them from getting bored and losing focus.

Why Should Teachers Be Current?

It is very important for teachers to remain up to date with current trends in educational practices. Prepared teachers who are willing to try new methods of helping students learn are some of the greatest teachers out there, and the results from their classrooms will surely prove that. Continuing education courses as well as lectures from successful teachers can provide plenty of opportunity for educators to learn about new methods for their own classrooms. As society and children change throughout the years, the needs of students and their ability to focus and pay attention also changes. It is vital for teachers to be ready to combat these changes with a dynamic strategy for their lessons.

We all look forward to little milestones in life as they tell us when we’ve reached our goals. Lately, it’s been a trend of some teachers and students to celebrate the 100th day of School.

The 100th day falls exactly on the 100th day of the school year and is an important milestone for both teachers, and students. This makes it a fantastic reason for celebration and the perfect excuse for taking some extra time to teach all things ‘100’.

Why not try some of our ideas for celebrating the 100th day in the classroom?

You could have your students:

Look at a collection of 100 things

Do ten sets of exercises (eg: star jumps, sit-ups etc.) and count them as they go